US Senate Rejects Resolution to Stop F-16 Jets Sale to Pakistan

The US Senate, yesterday, rejected a resolution to prevent sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan – a deal approved by the Obama administration.

The resolution was moved by Republican Senator Rand Paul, but only 24 Senators voted in favor of it while 71 of the 100 Senators in the house rejected it.

According to an announcement, “the vote on the procedural resolution was moved by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, also a Republican, to kill the resolution Senator Paul had moved”.

The move to sell F-16 fighter Jets to Pakistan was debated for an hour, and Senator Paul forced a vote on it using the Arms Export Control Act.

“The procedural resolution was passed by approximately two-thirds majority, denying any further motion against the sale,” the announcement further added.

However, Senator Paul is still insistent on trying to block the sale despite failing initially. According to him, Islamabad will have to release Dr. Shakil Afridi and Asia Bibi – where the former is imprisoned with a 33-year sentence and the latter is being held for violating Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

Earlier this month the US Government formally notified Pakistan of their intention to sell F-16 fighter jets to the country – a move which was well received by the latter, but also led to debates over the change in the region’s military balance.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=52395

Posted by Hunain Naseer on Mar 11 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.